Previous Topic

Next Topic

Clinical trials for pituitary tumors

You may have had to make a lot of decisions since you’ve been told you have a pituitary tumor. One of the most important decisions you will make is choosing which treatment is best for you. You may have heard about clinical trials being done for your type of tumor. Or maybe someone on your health care team has mentioned a clinical trial to you.

Clinical trials are carefully controlled research studies that are done with patients who volunteer for them. They are done to learn more about promising new treatments or procedures.

Clinical trials are one way to get state-of-the art treatment. Sometimes they may be the only way to get some newer treatments. They are also the only way for doctors to learn better methods to treat tumors. Still, they are not right for everyone.

If you would like to learn more about clinical trials that might be right for you, start by asking your doctor if your clinic or hospital conducts clinical trials. You can also call our clinical trials matching service for a list of studies that might meet your medical needs. You can reach this service at 1-800-303-5691 or on our website at www.cancer.org/clinicaltrials. You can also get a list of current clinical trials by calling the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) or by visiting the NCI clinical trials website at www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials.

You must meet certain requirements to take part in any clinical trial. If you do qualify for a clinical trial, it’s up to you whether or not to enter (enroll in) it.